Boom!
Rhodey was sent flying by a single punch, crashing straight into a shipping container.
"Rhodey!"
"I'm fine—shit! This guy's strong as hell!"
The moment Mark 17 – Heartbreaker touched down, an Extremis soldier grabbed it by the head and ripped it clean off the chestplate.
"Sir! Their strength output is far beyond projections! The drone protocol cannot engage in effective close combat!"
"Then don't engage—blow them apart!"
Mark 16 – Nightclub began charging its palm repulsors—but a female Extremis soldier moved faster. She plunged her hand straight into the reactor core.
BOOOOM—!!!
Nightclub detonated instantly, exploding into an extremely expensive firework display.
Tony stared in disbelief.
This wasn't a fight.
This was a slaughter.
"JARVIS! Analyze weaknesses! Why won't they go down?!" Tony fired his thrusters, rising into the air and unleashing a barrage of repulsor fire.
"Sir! Their regenerative capabilities are extreme. Unless—instant fatal damage is inflicted—"
"Easy for you to say!"
BAM—!
"Shit!"
Tony was snatched out of the air by two Extremis soldiers and slammed hard onto the deck.
"Tony," Aldrich Killian's voice drifted down from above.
He stood atop a crane, suit immaculate, hair perfectly styled—yet his face glowed with infernal heat.
"Look at you, Tony. Still hiding behind your toys."
"Killian!" Tony aimed his uni-beam. "Where's Pepper?! What did you do to her?!"
"Her?" Killian spread his arms, savoring the moment. "She's evolving, Tony. I gave her a gift—something you never could."
"Go to hell!"
Tony launched his internal missiles—but Killian was faster.
WHOOSH—!
A blast of dragon-like flame erupted from Killian's hands, detonating the missiles mid-launch.
BOOM!
The shockwave smashed Tony against a container.
"Sir! The House Party Protocol has been completely neutralized! Immediate extraction is advised!" JARVIS warned.
The early-generation suits—never upgraded after New York—were laughably fragile against three-thousand-degree human furnaces.
Outnumbered. Outmatched.
They were torn apart, melted down, ripped to shreds.
Wreckage littered the deck.
"It's over, Tony."
Killian descended the stairs slowly, flanked by a dozen glowing Extremis soldiers.
They surrounded Tony like wolves circling wounded prey.
Tony tried to stand, but the damaged armor refused to respond.
"JARVIS… disengage the suit…"
"Access denied, sir. Chestplate deformation prevents ejection."
Tony Stark was trapped in his own iron coffin.
Killian stepped forward, his palm glowing red-hot—ready to melt Tony's faceplate open.
"You know my greatest regret, Tony?" Killian said softly. "Believing your lies."
"And now—"
He raised his hand.
"Goodbye, obsolete futurist."
Tony closed his eyes.
"…Pepper."
"Stop."
The single word echoed across the deck.
A man descended from the night sky.
Golden hair flawless.
Blue eyes calm and utterly emotionless.
The Stars and Stripes cape billowed behind him, unmoved by the wind.
"Homelander…" Tony whispered, barely able to breathe.
"What—?!" Killian froze. "When did you get here?!"
"Hey, Tony. Colonel Rhodes."
Homelander waved casually, like greeting neighbors at a backyard barbecue.
"Looks like your party got a little out of hand."
"Homelander…" Rhodey crawled out from the container, half his Mark 12 armor melted. "How… how are you here?"
"Oh, me?" Homelander pointed at himself. "I'm just… saving the world."
He shifted aside.
Everyone—including Killian—saw what stood behind him.
A man in a tailored suit. Pale. Shaken.
But unharmed.
"Mr… President?!" Rhodey's jaw dropped.
"Good evening, Colonel," President Matthew Ellis swallowed hard.
Tony's brain short-circuited.
"Wait—wait a second—" Tony struggled upright.
"The President was still up there—we—we came to rescue him—"
Homelander smiled.
"Tony… Tony… did you think I just arrived?"
His X-ray vision flicked briefly over Tony's chest.
"Your heart's racing."
"I got here twenty minutes ago."
"What?!" Tony and Rhodey blurted out together.
"Right around the time you two were… let's say… stumbling around like headless chickens," Homelander shrugged.
"I flew up, untied the President. Even told him a joke."
He looked at Ellis.
"Was it funny, Mr. President?"
"…Very. Extremely humorous," Ellis wiped cold sweat from his brow.
Tony Stark felt the deepest humiliation of his entire life.
"So—" Tony pointed at him, hands shaking, "you're telling me—you saved the President—then just stayed up there—watching us get beaten like dogs?!"
"Whoa, Tony. Language," Homelander gasped theatrically.
"I wasn't watching."
"I was trusting."
"Trusting the Avengers to handle it."
"You—!"
"Tony!" Rhodey grabbed him before he exploded.
"Enough!!" Killian finally snapped, pointing at Homelander.
"And who the hell are you supposed to be?! Just another clown in tights! Kill him!!"
"Die!!"
The nearest Extremis soldier roared and lunged forward, body blazing, molten hands reaching for Homelander's head—
Homelander didn't even look at him.
He simply—casually—backhanded him.
SMACK—!!!!
A sound impossibly loud and clean.
The soldier—who moments ago could rip Iron Man suits apart—had his neck twisted seven hundred and twenty degrees.
Thud.
The body hit the deck.
Dead silence.
Tony Stark forgot to breathe.
Rhodey's HUD registered a skipped heartbeat.
"H-he just…" Rhodey whispered.
"Oh. Sorry." Homelander shook his hand in mild disgust, as if he'd touched something filthy.
"I really hate it when people touch my hair."
"Monster…" Killian took a subtle step back.
"No." Homelander shook his head, wearing that saintly smile again.
"I'm Homelander."